Grant Gelink, Former CEO, Deloitte Southern Africa

200 accountants meet 400 school children to study math in South Africa

Project Siyakhula—“we are growing”—was started in 1998 when a group of trainee accountants from Deloitte Southern Africa resolved to make a difference in the education and development of students in the city of Pretoria. The group joined forces to offer Saturday morning accounting lessons to students at disadvantaged schools. More than just technique and methodology, the lessons also offered the students advice on how to think about their opportunities and future professional lives.

Today, more than 200 volunteers from Deloitte Southern Africa teach accounting and mathematics to students in grades 10, 11, and 12. “I believe that the personal contributions each Deloitte person makes by donating time, sharing intellectual capital, and leading by positive example makes a huge difference to the people with whom they interact,” says Grant Gelink, CEO Deloitte Southern Africa. Building upon the initial success of the program, it has been taken to scale across the country and is now active in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, KwaZulu-Natal, Pretoria, and Johannesburg—reaching over 400 students per year. See photos of Project Siyakhula.

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